We have just returned from another great holiday at the Iberostar Selection Hacienda Dominicus, this was our sixth stay at this hotel. It is 21 years since we first visited but it is still a lovely place t...o visit. The hotel and gardens are well maintained and the staff friendly. The hotel is starting to show its age in places, but the maintenance staff are out daily carrying out repairs and painting. We are members of Iberostar’s “The Club” so we do get certain benefits for being members. Check in was at the Star Prestige reception and there were a few minor hiccups but these were soon overcome. We had booked a junior suite but asked if we could upgrade to a suite having a rooftop pool and terrace, unfortunately there we none available, the one next to our room, which we really would have liked, was having some work carried out on it but it was supposed to be completed in a couple of days. Leidy Ruiz, the SP supervisor said she would let us know when it was available. Unfortunately, the room did not become available during our stay. Leidy tried her hardest to get us a pool top suite, she did offer us two other rooms but we had been spoilt last year having room 7202, which had a lovely view of the sea and the lighthouse. There are five specialty restaurants, Japanese, Mexican, Italian Steakhouse, French and Mediterranean/Greek along with the main buffet. Our first visit was to La Sombrita, the Mediterranean/Greek restaurant, on the beach. We had the sharing platter to start which contained humous with pita, tzatziki with crudités, olives, Greek salad and calamari. The hummus was runny and tasteless and the tzatziki was a sweet runny liquid, the hummus and tzatziki were nothing like the proper ones. The Greek salad was ordinary salad with a few pieces of Feta cheese, the calamari was OK. There was also egg plant stuffed with cheese and anchovies, which didn't really taste of anything. We both had the chicken souvlaki with rice and Greek potatoes. On the first occasion the souvlaki's were OK but only contained 4 pieces of chicken. We had a bottle of wine delivered from Star Prestige, the waiter brought an ice bucket, opened the wine and we never saw him again, it was as though we had brought our own wine so we could pour it ourselves. On our second visit, my wife didn't want a starter and I had the shrimp ceviche, it was OK, the chicken in the souvlaki’s was dry. The chicken was supposed to have been in a 24 spicy marinade but there was no taste of any spices. We only went the second time because we had enjoyed the souvlaki but, although the service was better, albeit slow, the food was very disappointing. The guests on the next table left nearly all their main course and desserts. The Japanese restaurant is always good with the chef providing some entertainment as he cooks, as we had seen this so many times before, at Hacienda Dominicus and other hotels, we asked if we could sit at one of the side tables, we thought that there was a different menu but as we went to sit down we were told it was the same menu as the show cooking however a chef cooked ours separately which was a surprise. The service from the chef and waiters/waitresses that evening was excellent. Last year we when we ate at La Spiaggia, the Italian Steakhouse, we weren’t too keen on it, the steak was a bit chewy and the service poor; this year it was the opposite, the steak was good as was the service from Yeuddy our waiter. Our wine from Satr Prestige was very late arriving, we had nearly finished the main course and the restaurant supervisor, Merary, was very apologetic, even though it wasn’t her fault, she had called SP three times chasing up the wine. Last year you didn’t need a reservation for the Mexican restaurant, it was first come first served and we found that the service was a bit chaotic as the staff didn’t know how many guests were arriving or at what time. This year they have reinstated reservations and the service was far better, apart from one evening when it started off well but went downhill. They have also changed to being “a la carte” for the starters and deserts and we found this so much better. The food was also better this year so much so that we ate there three times. We have always considered the French restaurant, El Colonial, the best for food and service. On our first visit this time we both had quiche lorraine for starters, what came was a large wedge of quiche, this was so disappointing as we expected something far more delicate such as a tart or similar. For main course my wife had Potrine de poulet cordon bleu, breaded chicken breast stuffed with ham and cheese and I had steak frites, grilled entrecôte steak with French fries. My steak was large it covered the whole plate; it was quite fatty but as they have removed the lightbulbs in the light fittings attached to the mirrors and placed small lights on the table it was difficult seeing the where the fat was to cut it off. The “French fries” were served in a metal basket and in the UK, we would call them “proper chips” they were not French fries, my wife’s chicken seemed very large and was pink at one end. The deserts used to be on the menu but this year they were on a trolly instead, I had crème Brulé, again I thought this was a rather large desert and only ate half of it. Our first impression of the restaurant this year was that they were going for quantity rather than quality and we were quite disappointed with our first visit on this holiday. Our second visit to El Colonial was much better, for starters my wife had French onion soup and I had the bisque de fruits de mer, seafood soup, both very good and I would go as far to say that the bisque de fruits de mer was better than I had last year at JOIA Rose Hall. For main course we both had “Terre and Mer”, duo of beef fillets and lobster medallions, both very good, this was the El Colonial we were used to. When it came to desert, my wife had spotted the trolley with crepes and we asked if we could have crepes instead of the desert trolley, the crepes were cooked and flambéed at the side of the restaurant as we watched. It was nice to see that at all the restaurants we were given proper menu’s this year instead of having to scan a QR code. The main buffet is very good with a large selection of food, we sued the buffet for breakfast and lunch but we mainly ate at the specialty restaurants in the evening. Breakfast service was good with freshly cooked eggs, omelettes and pancakes and we were well looked after by Victor, Edwin and Emelin in the Star Prestige area, The Club Members area now occupies the whole of the back of the restaurant. The lobby and bar is very spacious and has plenty of seating, with live music most evenings however, as we are Iberostar Club members we tended to use the Star Prestige lounge, it was quieter, cooler and free from people smoking. Alexander knew what we drank and would often have drinks ready on the bar when he saw us coming in. We only caught a couple of the shows in the theatre, Circus and Four on the Floor, both were good, the performers in circus having tremendous upper body strength. We were there on Dominican Day and the entertainment was very good with music, dancing and parade round the hotel. The gardens are very well maintained and it is nice to walk around the hotel grounds, there is plenty of wildlife to see, the peacocks, moorhens, ducks, turtles and fish, whilst there a couple of ducks had ducklings whilst a couple of moorhens also had chicks. The beach at Hacienda is very good, with no seaweed, but as always seems to be the case nowadays, people were going down to reserve sun loungers early in the morning and not returning, in some cases, for a number of hours. Although the Star Prestige area of the beach had plenty of sun loungers and Balinese beds, some were reserved before 7:00 am with people not turning up until lunchtime, or people “reserving” both sun loungers and a Balinese bed, a Balines bed and four sun loungers was the most I saw with nobody on them for 4 hours and then only using two sun loungers. Something needs to be done to stop this, I mentioned it to one of the staff one one occasion, he was aware of it but just said the man was "stroppy". The Star Prestige area was having a new kitchen area built, the lunchtime barbecue of burgers, hot dogs, skewers, chips and salad had been replaced this year with chefs cooking a different dish every day, seafood paella, salmon, Dominican stew, barbecued meat, this was nice and freshly cooked but if you didn’t want was on offer that day you had to go to one of the buffets, maybe there will be more options once the kitchen is finished. Excellent service from Star Prestige staff, Tania, Fradi, Carlos, Ysidro and especially Leidy, who as well as trying to get us the pool top suite gave me a box of Dominican chocolate on the day we left. Our room cleaner, Carmella, was very good and we missed her on her days off, she often left towel art and flowers and the day before we left, she left a “happy trip” message on our bed cut out of palm leaves. On the day that we were leaving it was my birthday, I went for a massage at 9:00 and as I went into the room for my massage, the masseuse said happy birthday, after the massage as I was talking to my wife, the masseuse and Rossamalis came with a glass of champagne and a fruit tart, something I had been looking for all the holiday as the Star Café had stopped serving them. Later we went up the Star Prestige lounge and as we exited to go to the Star Cafe, Tania, the SP Manager, burst into a rendition of happy birthday, and she had a very good voice as well then to cap it off, Noemi, The Club sales, had baked a cheesecake for me, which I knew she was doing, but I didn't expect all the members of The Club staff to come out and sing happy birthday. What a lovely way to end our holiday. There are so many other staff that should be mentioned as they all contribute to the running and upkeep of the hotel. Whilst we may give it a miss in 2026, we will return as to us it feels like home.

Beautiful resort it is very clean and every single staff is so welcoming and friendly, food could use improvement with how long it stays out and how sanitary it can be, but other than that best resort I’ve... stayed at. The views are amazing and you will love how well everyone treats you.